Daytona Int'l Speedway to coincide with its $400M "Daytona Rising" expansion is "launching a new marketing campaign via St. Louis-based Jump Company to tout the venue and build steam for the upcoming Daytona 500," according to Karl Greenberg of MARKETING DAILY. DIS VP/Marketing Sean Belgrade said that the "new campaign -- featuring the likes of Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Jeff Gordon -- diverges in tone from past efforts." He added, "We typically used more stock footage for the campaign. The difference this year is we decided to film seven (Daytona 500) champions." Belgrade said that the effort "comprises one 30-second spot, five 15-second cut-downs, a 10-second cut-down, as well as a pair of radio ads, print pieces including newspaper, digital and out-of-home." He added that the TV buy is "on Fox Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and regional buys on sports broadcasts on Fox -- much of it made easier by a recent landmark deal with Fox and NBC." The campaign is "intended to be national in scope." A DIS spokesperson added that the Speedway "expects to work with Visit Florida to help promote the venue project" (MARKETINGDAILY.com, 10/14).

GETTING CONNECTED: The "Daytona Rising" project was examined on Bloomberg TV's "Sportfolio" this weekend, with host Rick Horrow noting "comfort and luxury are not words we traditionally associate with the fan experience of NASCAR," but this project "will give the facility many of the amenities that fans and sponsors have come to expect at contemporary stadiums." DIS President Joie Chitwood said the "key is going to be making sure everything is connected (because) we know that is an expectation nowadays." Chitwood said the plan is "to run the venue at the same time we're constructing." He added, "We've had some friends from Disney show up and say, 'How are you doing this? Does this really work?' So not just from our innovation, our renovation, the cool things that we're doing to make the experience great, but just the technology of actually doing it" ("Sportfolio," Bloomberg TV, 10/12).